Darkness, Light, And Love (Romans 13:8-14)

WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.240 --> 00:00:03.359 If you're able, please remain standing. And let's turn our attention now to 2 00:00:03.439 --> 00:00:18.269 Romans, chapter thirteen. Romans thirteen, versus the eight through fourteen, Romans 3 00:00:18.350 --> 00:00:24.820 Thirteen, verse eight. Oh, no one anything except to love each other, 4 00:00:25.780 --> 00:00:30.820 for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. For the Commandments, 5 00:00:31.300 --> 00:00:34.979 you shall not commit adultery, you shall not murder, you shall not 6 00:00:35.140 --> 00:00:41.250 steal, you shall not covet in any other commandment are all are summed up 7 00:00:41.450 --> 00:00:47.689 in this word. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. Love does no 8 00:00:47.850 --> 00:00:51.960 wrong to a neighbor. Therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law. 9 00:00:53.640 --> 00:00:58.359 Besides this, you know the time that the hour has come for you to 10 00:00:58.759 --> 00:01:03.640 wake from sleep, for salvation is nearer to us now than when we first 11 00:01:03.679 --> 00:01:10.230 believed. The night is far gone, the day is at hand. So 12 00:01:10.310 --> 00:01:15.510 then, let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor 13 00:01:15.670 --> 00:01:21.859 of light. Let us walk properly as in the daytime, not in orgies 14 00:01:22.659 --> 00:01:30.340 drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarreling and jealousy, 15 00:01:30.659 --> 00:01:36.689 but put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh 16 00:01:37.450 --> 00:01:49.439 to gratify its desires he may be seated. So here in Romans Thirteen, 17 00:01:52.359 --> 00:01:56.280 in these verses eight through the end of the chapter, e through fourteen, 18 00:01:57.400 --> 00:02:01.790 Paul gives us some wonderful and very clear instructions about how we ought to live 19 00:02:01.870 --> 00:02:07.030 our lives. The first thing he says is that we ought to love one 20 00:02:07.069 --> 00:02:12.710 another. He says that all the commandments, and he points particularly to what 21 00:02:12.789 --> 00:02:17.580 we sometimes call the second table of the Ten Commandments, commandments six through ten. 22 00:02:19.860 --> 00:02:23.500 He says these commandments are all summed up in this one phrase. You 23 00:02:23.580 --> 00:02:29.099 shall love your neighbor as yourself. This is what Jesus said and taught and 24 00:02:29.219 --> 00:02:32.090 of course it's as we read in proverbs. This has been said before, 25 00:02:32.810 --> 00:02:38.449 the command to not neglect or do evil to our neighbors, but to love 26 00:02:38.569 --> 00:02:44.599 them. This is the thing that is to characterize the Christian life. This 27 00:02:44.800 --> 00:02:49.400 is true not only of our relationships between one another. Is Brothers and sisters, 28 00:02:49.919 --> 00:02:53.120 that we ought to love one another, but our relationships with all people, 29 00:02:54.599 --> 00:02:59.349 though. It us again that this is this theme of Love Has Been 30 00:02:59.590 --> 00:03:07.710 Frequent in in chapter twelve and chapter thirteen. If Christ loved US, as 31 00:03:07.830 --> 00:03:13.180 Paul says in Romans Five, so much that he gave his life, how 32 00:03:13.219 --> 00:03:16.740 appropriate is it for us to think about our giving our own lives and love 33 00:03:16.900 --> 00:03:24.259 to other people, as Christians, as people who are in Christ and belong 34 00:03:24.460 --> 00:03:32.129 to his name, even share his name? To love one another? This 35 00:03:32.289 --> 00:03:37.969 is what we are called to do. This is the positive way of putting 36 00:03:38.050 --> 00:03:40.840 the or of characterizing the lives we are supposed to live. Paul does that 37 00:03:42.000 --> 00:03:46.080 in verses eight through ten, then eleve it. Then in eleven through fourteen 38 00:03:46.280 --> 00:03:51.400 he says the same thing, but he puts it in the negative or on 39 00:03:51.479 --> 00:03:55.270 the flip side of it. Instead of love, he says or not instead 40 00:03:55.270 --> 00:03:59.509 of love. But he says, as you love one another, that means 41 00:03:59.909 --> 00:04:04.270 not doing evil, not doing works of darkness. We are to, as 42 00:04:04.310 --> 00:04:09.629 he says in verse Thirteen, Walk Properly as in the daytime. And he 43 00:04:09.949 --> 00:04:15.379 lists a number of things that Christians should not participate in. Not have anything 44 00:04:15.460 --> 00:04:21.699 to do with orgies, drunkenness, sexual immorality, sensuality, quarreling, jealousy, 45 00:04:24.180 --> 00:04:28.170 he sums he takes these things and he adds to them. When he 46 00:04:28.250 --> 00:04:35.970 says make no provision for the flesh to gratify its desires, he's pointing out 47 00:04:36.129 --> 00:04:41.480 what he has pointed out before in Romans that in us there is still remaining 48 00:04:41.600 --> 00:04:47.879 a fleshly nature. It's being sanctified, it's being saved, the Holy Spirit 49 00:04:48.040 --> 00:04:53.790 is is working in US and growing US and helping us, but there, 50 00:04:54.149 --> 00:05:01.430 if we are honest, there remains something not right, something sinful, something 51 00:05:01.470 --> 00:05:06.699 that is against God. Recognizing that, that there are desires in us that 52 00:05:06.740 --> 00:05:14.019 ask to be gratified is helpful because it helps us to know how we ought 53 00:05:14.019 --> 00:05:17.339 to treat treat them, as he says, make no provision for them. 54 00:05:18.579 --> 00:05:23.329 It's such a strong way of speaking and it's a reminder that we often do 55 00:05:23.569 --> 00:05:30.050 make provision for the flesh. And how wrong is that? Does that make 56 00:05:30.129 --> 00:05:36.199 any sense? If you have mold growing in your house, do you try 57 00:05:36.360 --> 00:05:42.759 to make it more humid? Do you try to create an environment in which 58 00:05:42.759 --> 00:05:48.839 it might be able to grow? If, if you, if you get 59 00:05:48.959 --> 00:05:54.990 some poison in your body, you do try to find ways to spread it, 60 00:05:55.230 --> 00:05:58.589 open it up, allow it to spread, or do you try to 61 00:05:59.069 --> 00:06:05.579 isolate it or get it out or attack it? If, for some reason, 62 00:06:05.660 --> 00:06:12.939 with sin, we often do make provision for the flesh. We plan 63 00:06:13.540 --> 00:06:18.490 fleshly things. Even remember in proverbs it said not to plan evil against your 64 00:06:18.490 --> 00:06:23.930 neighbors, while I would never do that. Well, yes, you would. 65 00:06:25.009 --> 00:06:29.610 You do you have? Well, y'all, do I have? We 66 00:06:30.329 --> 00:06:36.040 find ourselves sometimes, or is sometimes we even push ourselves into planning evil things, 67 00:06:36.240 --> 00:06:41.000 devising evil things, and if we don't go that far, then perhaps 68 00:06:41.319 --> 00:06:46.160 making provision for them. Well, if it just so happened that such and 69 00:06:46.279 --> 00:06:51.389 such a situation were to come into my life will, then maybe we shouldn't 70 00:06:51.389 --> 00:06:58.310 be thinking in those ways, or to cut sins off at the past or 71 00:06:58.389 --> 00:07:02.459 not to allow them into our lives. We're not to make provisions for them. 72 00:07:04.139 --> 00:07:10.339 Just to give one more example, when we invite people into our homes, 73 00:07:10.779 --> 00:07:14.259 what do we do? We know that they're going to becoming we make 74 00:07:14.620 --> 00:07:18.329 provision for them. We make sure we have food on hand, if they're 75 00:07:18.329 --> 00:07:23.209 going to be staying the night, that there's clean towels, are clean bedding, 76 00:07:23.449 --> 00:07:27.610 that there's a comfortable place for them to be. We make provision for 77 00:07:27.810 --> 00:07:32.120 it. We shouldn't do this when it comes to sin, when it comes 78 00:07:32.160 --> 00:07:38.319 to our fleshly nature, to invite it into our homes and into our hearts, 79 00:07:38.720 --> 00:07:44.120 to create a safe, inviting space for it. We are called to 80 00:07:44.199 --> 00:07:49.990 be at war with our flesh not hospitable toward it. Well, being at 81 00:07:50.069 --> 00:07:57.350 war with our flesh means loving our neighbor and doing right. These are the 82 00:07:57.470 --> 00:08:03.019 commands that God gives to us in Romans Thirteen, eight through fourteen. Now, 83 00:08:03.100 --> 00:08:07.740 these commands and this way of living, Paul puts in a very particular 84 00:08:07.899 --> 00:08:15.329 perspective which I want to have you help you focus on this morning. He 85 00:08:15.529 --> 00:08:20.649 says in verses eleven through fourteen, that there is this time that we are 86 00:08:20.730 --> 00:08:26.050 in, that we are to think about our lives in this way, both 87 00:08:28.079 --> 00:08:33.200 both sort of putting off evil and putting on the armor of life or or 88 00:08:33.279 --> 00:08:37.960 light, both in shunning evil and in loving our neighbors. He says this 89 00:08:39.720 --> 00:08:41.750 not only does love fulfill the law, but he says in Verse Eleven, 90 00:08:43.590 --> 00:08:52.509 besides this about love fulfilling the law. Besides this, know the time that 91 00:08:52.669 --> 00:08:58.580 the hour has come for you to wake from sleep. There's this time in 92 00:08:58.700 --> 00:09:05.019 which we're living. I won't ask you to raise your hands, but my 93 00:09:05.220 --> 00:09:09.090 guess is that maybe a few of you, on your way out the house 94 00:09:09.169 --> 00:09:15.929 this morning, said it's time, it's time to go right. There was 95 00:09:16.129 --> 00:09:22.169 this sense of that the hour is at hand right and certain actions were required. 96 00:09:22.409 --> 00:09:26.440 Get Your Wallet, get the keys, do you have your purse? 97 00:09:26.559 --> 00:09:28.840 Did you get the Sunday school materials? Are The kids buckled? They are 98 00:09:28.879 --> 00:09:35.000 these things that need to happen because the hour is at hand. There's a 99 00:09:35.080 --> 00:09:39.149 kind of urgency that happens when the hour is at hand. A way of 100 00:09:39.350 --> 00:09:46.269 acting and thinking motivates our lives. So not only do we have this reason 101 00:09:46.470 --> 00:09:52.029 that love is the essence and the fulfilling of the law, which is a 102 00:09:52.149 --> 00:09:56.779 great reason all in itself, but Paul adds this second one, which I 103 00:09:56.899 --> 00:10:03.259 think has a kind of urgency to it. The Hour has come for you 104 00:10:03.299 --> 00:10:09.490 to wake from sleep. The alarm clock is going off. Wake up, 105 00:10:09.129 --> 00:10:16.570 it's time to go. Something needs to change. Being Asleep and being awake 106 00:10:16.610 --> 00:10:22.679 are two very, very different states, aren't they? I don't think I'll 107 00:10:24.120 --> 00:10:26.799 try to prove that. Well, I'll just let that set. They're very 108 00:10:26.879 --> 00:10:31.639 different states. He gives a similar phrase in verse twelve. The night is 109 00:10:31.879 --> 00:10:35.429 far gone, the day is at hand, the sun is coming up. 110 00:10:35.470 --> 00:10:41.830 It's time to do something different. It's time to wake up. And so 111 00:10:41.950 --> 00:10:48.350 what does he say? Let us cast off the works of darkness and put 112 00:10:48.429 --> 00:10:54.940 on the armor of light. Let us walk properly. Wake up, get 113 00:10:54.940 --> 00:11:03.860 up, it's daytime, let's walk in the daytime. I think it deserves 114 00:11:05.169 --> 00:11:11.970 the these verses deserve. Are are slowing down and meditating on them a little 115 00:11:11.009 --> 00:11:20.600 bit because here, in these these beautiful verses, these powerful images, Paul 116 00:11:20.759 --> 00:11:28.080 is drawing on metaphors and descriptions that are very common in scripture. I think 117 00:11:28.080 --> 00:11:31.080 by looking at a few other passages so it'll help us to understand even in 118 00:11:31.240 --> 00:11:37.990 a thicker and more rich way, the lives were called to live, what 119 00:11:37.149 --> 00:11:46.789 it means to not be in darkness but be in light. First, consider 120 00:11:46.950 --> 00:11:54.500 the hour at its consummated estate, what's sometimes called the day of the Lord. 121 00:11:54.340 --> 00:12:00.100 This is the brightest of the bright this is high noon, when the 122 00:12:00.139 --> 00:12:05.250 day, as the sun, is not only arisen but it's at its peak. 123 00:12:05.610 --> 00:12:09.929 And in the case of the day of the Lord, when Jesus returns 124 00:12:09.090 --> 00:12:13.850 to come for his people and judge the world, it's a day that will 125 00:12:13.889 --> 00:12:18.480 never end. Revelation tells us that there will be no sun in Heaven because 126 00:12:18.919 --> 00:12:24.960 will simply live by the brightness of Jesus. Amazing thought. Well, to 127 00:12:26.120 --> 00:12:31.669 that end, listen to Jesus's description of this day from Luke, Chapter Twenty 128 00:12:31.789 --> 00:12:43.460 one in Luke Twenty one. At versus twenty five through twenty eight, he 129 00:12:43.580 --> 00:12:50.059 speaks about his coming again, and it comes in parallel with a sort of 130 00:12:52.379 --> 00:12:56.940 anticipatory judgment, if I can put it that way. There is, he 131 00:12:56.100 --> 00:13:03.889 says in verses Twenty through twenty four, a time when the destruction of Jerusalem 132 00:13:03.009 --> 00:13:09.450 is coming. God's people are going to suffer at an end of an era 133 00:13:09.610 --> 00:13:11.409 will come and, as he says in twenty three, there will be great 134 00:13:11.490 --> 00:13:18.960 distress on the Earth and wrath against this people. This judgment that was experienced 135 00:13:18.240 --> 00:13:28.710 when the temple was sacked and destruction came to Jerusalem was a kind of foreshadowing 136 00:13:28.870 --> 00:13:33.070 of the last day. And then Jesus speaks about that in verses twenty five, 137 00:13:35.789 --> 00:13:41.149 twenty five through twenty eight. Let me read it to you. And 138 00:13:41.309 --> 00:13:48.580 there will be signs in sun and moon and stars and on the Earth, 139 00:13:48.659 --> 00:13:54.340 distress of nations in perplexity because of the roaring of the sea and the waves, 140 00:13:56.169 --> 00:14:01.970 people fainting with fear and with foreboding of what is coming on the world, 141 00:14:03.289 --> 00:14:09.529 for the powers of the heavens will be shaken and then they will see 142 00:14:09.649 --> 00:14:15.519 the son of man coming in a cloud with power and with great glory. 143 00:14:16.559 --> 00:14:22.600 If you read these phrases, this description, especially after the description that I 144 00:14:22.639 --> 00:14:26.990 didn't read, of the destruction of Judah, about vengeance and wrath and people 145 00:14:28.149 --> 00:14:33.549 fleeing, and now you read about the Sun and the moon and the stars, 146 00:14:33.110 --> 00:14:37.549 of the waves crashing up, the water and earth, I'm sort of 147 00:14:37.659 --> 00:14:43.539 fighting against one another, heaven and earth sort of tearing apart at the seems. 148 00:14:43.259 --> 00:14:50.059 Perplexity, confusion, fear, foreboding, the powers of the heavens being 149 00:14:50.340 --> 00:14:56.250 shaken, and then the son of Man, God himself, coming on a 150 00:14:56.330 --> 00:15:03.330 cloud with power and great glory. I ask, would you be scared? 151 00:15:03.370 --> 00:15:11.000 It sounds terrifying to me to have the Earth and the heavens and all of 152 00:15:11.279 --> 00:15:18.039 creation come apart at the seems. Everything that God has been holding fast through 153 00:15:18.120 --> 00:15:26.029 his covenant with Noah, the seasons and cycles and I'm coming and the going 154 00:15:26.230 --> 00:15:31.190 and marriages and life and death, all of a sudden being pulled apart. 155 00:15:31.309 --> 00:15:39.139 God's sustaining power in the world no longer holding it all together but actually dissolving 156 00:15:39.220 --> 00:15:46.259 it in some way. This is the time, the Great Day of the 157 00:15:46.460 --> 00:15:54.169 Lord. This is Jesus description of his coming, but notice what he says, 158 00:15:54.210 --> 00:15:58.409 in the next verse and Verse Twenty Eight. Now, when these things 159 00:15:58.649 --> 00:16:04.080 begin to take place, straighten up and raise your heads because your redemption is 160 00:16:04.200 --> 00:16:11.320 drawing near. But why? I hope I can do that, when the 161 00:16:11.559 --> 00:16:15.879 sun and the moon and the stars are doing things I've never seen them do 162 00:16:17.120 --> 00:16:22.470 before, when waves are crashing and all the powers and political powers of this 163 00:16:22.710 --> 00:16:30.750 earth are coming apart and everyone is running for fear. I hope that we, 164 00:16:30.029 --> 00:16:37.100 as Christians, can do what Jesus says, to not be afraid to 165 00:16:37.340 --> 00:16:41.820 hear that and say, Oh, I know what this is about. I've 166 00:16:41.940 --> 00:16:47.100 heard about this. Jesus told us. This is no surprise, this is 167 00:16:47.169 --> 00:16:52.690 no great wonder. He said this would happen. So I'm going to straighten 168 00:16:52.730 --> 00:16:56.850 up my back, I'm not going to cower under a rock, I'm not 169 00:16:56.009 --> 00:17:00.440 going to fear the judgment of the Lord. I'm going to raise my head 170 00:17:00.519 --> 00:17:12.119 and smile at the savior coming down because redemption is at hand. It's drawing 171 00:17:12.319 --> 00:17:21.309 near. Isn't that wonderful to have that kind of confidence? Jesus says we 172 00:17:21.589 --> 00:17:27.710 will have that kind of confidence because we are his. If we are those 173 00:17:27.789 --> 00:17:33.500 who have been reconciled to God, when he comes, he comes as our 174 00:17:33.619 --> 00:17:40.220 friend, not as our judge, and we will know that that all judgment 175 00:17:40.380 --> 00:17:45.490 for us has passed away and we come as the son of man comes, 176 00:17:45.529 --> 00:17:51.690 in power and in light and in glory. We know that we aren't away 177 00:17:51.890 --> 00:17:56.609 from him to be judged by him. We belong to all that, the 178 00:17:56.809 --> 00:18:00.920 power and the glory and the light and the resurrection and other things that are 179 00:18:02.319 --> 00:18:07.440 spoken about in other places. That's us, that's ours, and so we 180 00:18:07.559 --> 00:18:17.589 can sing for joy and even the darkest of times. That kind of perspective 181 00:18:17.750 --> 00:18:26.269 reminds me of of childbirth in a way. When a woman is giving birth, 182 00:18:26.859 --> 00:18:33.180 it feels like her body is coming apart, her life is ending. 183 00:18:33.180 --> 00:18:37.779 It's a terrible feeling. It's distressing. They scream, they cry, they 184 00:18:38.220 --> 00:18:42.369 panic and they're all these people smiling around them, saying, you're doing great, 185 00:18:44.250 --> 00:18:48.569 everything's going well, it's almost here, we're so excited for you. 186 00:18:48.529 --> 00:18:55.450 Do you look at you say, are you crazy? Jesus wants us to 187 00:18:55.529 --> 00:19:00.759 have that perspective, the people standing around that woman. He gives us a 188 00:19:00.839 --> 00:19:06.680 kind of outside perspective about the hour that is at hand. He helps us 189 00:19:06.720 --> 00:19:12.309 to see that, though things are terrifying, feel terrifying, are very disruptive 190 00:19:12.349 --> 00:19:17.230 and we feel like our lives are at end. He says, hear my 191 00:19:17.589 --> 00:19:30.180 word and believe, know who I am, trust in me. But to 192 00:19:30.220 --> 00:19:33.660 read a couple verses now from the Old Testament. First from Malachi, for 193 00:19:33.940 --> 00:19:44.490 one through three. For behold, the day is coming, burning like an 194 00:19:44.490 --> 00:19:52.690 oven, when all the Hurrogan and evildoers will be stubble. The day that 195 00:19:52.849 --> 00:19:57.599 is coming shall set them ablaze, says the Lord of hosts, hosts meaning 196 00:19:57.960 --> 00:20:07.150 his mighty armies of Angelic Warriors, so that it will leave them neither root 197 00:20:07.269 --> 00:20:14.549 nor branch. But for you who fear my name, The Sun of Righteousness 198 00:20:14.589 --> 00:20:19.869 shall rise with healing in its wings. You shall go out leaping like calves 199 00:20:19.910 --> 00:20:26.220 from the stall and shall tread down the wicked, for they will be ashes 200 00:20:26.259 --> 00:20:30.900 under the souls of your feet on that day when I act, says the 201 00:20:30.059 --> 00:20:38.809 Lord of posts. It's powerful language, so are powerful and true promises. 202 00:20:41.329 --> 00:20:48.450 Do you hear these words about the day, time and Light, the Sun 203 00:20:48.569 --> 00:20:55.440 of Righteousness Right, the Sun of Righteousness rising and of birth? Right, 204 00:20:57.119 --> 00:21:03.589 you shall go out leaping like calves from the stall and judgment, all of 205 00:21:03.670 --> 00:21:08.990 these images coming together, these prophecies of darkness and light, of an hour 206 00:21:10.190 --> 00:21:17.029 at hand, of Judgment and salvation. One more from Isaiah. Nineteen, 207 00:21:29.539 --> 00:21:37.369 you're dead, shall live, their bodies shall rise. You who dwell in 208 00:21:37.450 --> 00:21:44.250 the dust, awake and seeing for joy, for your do is a due 209 00:21:44.369 --> 00:21:49.440 of light, and the earth will give birth to the dead. You see 210 00:21:49.480 --> 00:21:56.440 all these images again, light and darkness, birth or sorry, death and 211 00:21:56.720 --> 00:22:03.789 birth. Here the sense of the earth and it's frailty and and even of 212 00:22:03.829 --> 00:22:10.950 the curse, and dust here is is mentioned. So this is these all 213 00:22:10.990 --> 00:22:18.019 verses that I've been reading from, from Luke, Malichi and Isaiah. Therere 214 00:22:18.059 --> 00:22:23.460 many others that are worth spending time and reflecting on. The point to this, 215 00:22:23.539 --> 00:22:30.289 this hour that's at hand, this day that has come in the coming 216 00:22:30.369 --> 00:22:34.650 of the Lord. Now, ultimately it's going to come in this consummated way 217 00:22:34.809 --> 00:22:41.089 that we've been reading about. But Jesus has already come, of course, 218 00:22:41.130 --> 00:22:48.799 right is John says the beginning of his Gospel. The light has come into 219 00:22:48.839 --> 00:22:56.000 the world and the darkness has not overcome it. The light that is coming, 220 00:22:56.039 --> 00:23:03.190 the hour, the time, is not only a future event. It's 221 00:23:03.390 --> 00:23:10.069 daybreak and we might say as has come. And so that leaves us this 222 00:23:10.269 --> 00:23:17.579 question. What about the time now? What about the days before the final, 223 00:23:17.779 --> 00:23:21.900 final day? What about the hour and the age in which we are 224 00:23:22.180 --> 00:23:29.009 waiting for the consummated age to come? Well, Paul Draws on all of 225 00:23:29.250 --> 00:23:33.690 that language at the end and talks about it in the here and now. 226 00:23:34.369 --> 00:23:41.599 So back to our passage in Romans chapter thirteen. Listen again to his words. 227 00:23:42.200 --> 00:23:48.160 Besides this, remember his commands about love. Know that the time, 228 00:23:48.279 --> 00:23:55.599 the hour has come for you to wake from sleep. At that same language 229 00:23:55.599 --> 00:24:00.829 from Isaiah about waking from the dust, arising from the dead to sing for 230 00:24:00.990 --> 00:24:07.670 joy. Dead people don't sing for joy. That people don't sing. But 231 00:24:07.829 --> 00:24:14.660 Jesus says that when we are born through him, it's because we have died 232 00:24:14.980 --> 00:24:18.140 in his death. Go back to Romans six and you can look at that. 233 00:24:18.660 --> 00:24:22.339 Having been buried with him, having died with him, we now live 234 00:24:22.579 --> 00:24:29.490 with him. We are awake from sleep, we are out of the darkness 235 00:24:30.049 --> 00:24:34.130 of the grave and every day that goes on, what Paul says in verse 236 00:24:34.170 --> 00:24:41.160 eleven is even more true. Salvation is nearer to us now than when we 237 00:24:41.400 --> 00:24:48.480 first believed. Every day that we live that that brightness grows brighter, the 238 00:24:48.640 --> 00:24:53.029 day is even closer, and so he says again in verse twelve. The 239 00:24:53.069 --> 00:24:59.470 night is far gone, the day is at hand. Wake up, cast 240 00:24:59.549 --> 00:25:06.309 off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light. Remember how 241 00:25:06.390 --> 00:25:10.619 often Theo and even in some of these passages, we read this, the 242 00:25:10.819 --> 00:25:15.299 Lord coming on this cloud of power and glory. Sometimes that cloud is described 243 00:25:15.380 --> 00:25:22.130 in scriptures as the angelic beings themselves, him riding on this chariot of fire. 244 00:25:23.450 --> 00:25:27.690 We read, and the whole Old Testament passage is about him coming as 245 00:25:27.769 --> 00:25:33.690 the Lord of hosts. This warlike image, they imagery, is now applied 246 00:25:33.730 --> 00:25:40.599 to us. We are to wake up, cast off the works of darkness 247 00:25:40.640 --> 00:25:48.759 and put on the armor of light. Be Strong, be courageous, stand 248 00:25:48.839 --> 00:25:53.470 up straighten your backs, look up, put on the armor of light and 249 00:25:53.630 --> 00:26:00.549 let us walk properly. Has in the daytime? Not In all of these 250 00:26:00.950 --> 00:26:07.180 things that, even now and in English language and culture, are characterized by 251 00:26:07.299 --> 00:26:15.859 the night, orgies, drunken sexual immorality, sensuality, perhaps even quarreling and 252 00:26:15.980 --> 00:26:23.650 jealousy. How do we live our lives here and now with the same confidence 253 00:26:23.809 --> 00:26:30.730 and awareness and wakefulness that applies at the end? You Remember all the parables 254 00:26:30.769 --> 00:26:36.480 about Jesus, about being ready for the bride room is coming about being prepared 255 00:26:36.759 --> 00:26:38.519 for the day as a hand. It's the same kind of thing here. 256 00:26:40.440 --> 00:26:47.470 We are not to be asleep, not to be dead, and doing the 257 00:26:47.630 --> 00:26:59.950 things of death, doing the works of darkness. When I think of these 258 00:27:00.430 --> 00:27:03.500 descriptions, of these sins a this some of the first images that come to 259 00:27:03.579 --> 00:27:10.180 my mind are sort of dark scenes and Charles Dickens novels. You have sort 260 00:27:10.180 --> 00:27:15.369 of back alleys and people sort of scurrying around and doing bad things in the 261 00:27:15.410 --> 00:27:22.089 night, right, stealing people, stealing money, holding people hostage, lying, 262 00:27:22.730 --> 00:27:30.279 planning the works of the night, im morality. These things shouldn't even 263 00:27:30.319 --> 00:27:36.480 be named among you. If you pick up this language and Ephesians Five, 264 00:27:36.720 --> 00:27:45.509 Paul says similar things here. Right, so Ephesians five. He says, 265 00:27:45.509 --> 00:27:51.349 therefore, do not become partners with them, those of our seven, the 266 00:27:51.910 --> 00:27:56.190 partners with the sons of disobedience, for at one time you were darkness, 267 00:27:59.460 --> 00:28:03.220 say you were in darkness. He says. You were darkness, but now 268 00:28:03.500 --> 00:28:07.220 you are light in the Lord Walk, he says in the Fesians five verse 269 00:28:07.259 --> 00:28:12.130 a walk as children of the light, for the fruit of light is found 270 00:28:12.210 --> 00:28:18.170 in all that is good and right and true. You see the works of 271 00:28:18.289 --> 00:28:22.410 darkness that Paul Speaks about and gives examples of in Romans the court. The 272 00:28:22.529 --> 00:28:26.640 corresponding good works are here described in Ephesians. The works of light are that 273 00:28:26.720 --> 00:28:30.720 which is good and right and true. Take no party, says in verse 274 00:28:30.759 --> 00:28:37.319 eleven, and the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them, for 275 00:28:37.400 --> 00:28:41.230 it is shameful even to speak of the things they do in secret. But 276 00:28:41.309 --> 00:28:45.990 when anything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible, for anything that 277 00:28:45.109 --> 00:28:48.869 becomes visible is light. Therefore, it says, awake, oh sleeper, 278 00:28:48.910 --> 00:28:56.059 and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine upon you. It be 279 00:28:56.180 --> 00:29:04.500 worth breathing on. But we need to come to conclusion here. In Romans 280 00:29:04.579 --> 00:29:11.329 Thirteen, Paul says, you who are in Christ, wake up. You 281 00:29:11.490 --> 00:29:17.809 Are the light. So let us walk as those in the light, with 282 00:29:18.049 --> 00:29:25.880 confidence, with a whareness and with joy. Some of you heard already that 283 00:29:25.960 --> 00:29:32.720 last night we found a centipede and I spent to too much time not finding 284 00:29:32.759 --> 00:29:41.630 it. It's Day of Judgment is coming very soon, perhaps even this afternoon. 285 00:29:41.869 --> 00:29:48.430 But do you know what happened? When this evil creature was exposed to 286 00:29:48.509 --> 00:29:53.779 the light? It scurried away the it's a nocturnal animal. It loves the 287 00:29:53.819 --> 00:30:00.299 darkness and it carries its little venomous body around in my house in the darkness. 288 00:30:00.380 --> 00:30:06.460 And it won't any longer because, as I said, the Day of 289 00:30:06.460 --> 00:30:17.130 Judgment. If this is true for a bug there really hasn't done anything evil, 290 00:30:17.210 --> 00:30:21.210 it's just being what it is. How much more true of this for 291 00:30:21.680 --> 00:30:26.599 weak creatures who've been made in the image of God knowledge and righteousness and holiness, 292 00:30:26.920 --> 00:30:32.680 and then plunge ourselves into darkness and scurry around in the darkness and hide 293 00:30:32.680 --> 00:30:36.710 ourselves in the darkness and when the light comes we scurry away in the darkness. 294 00:30:37.789 --> 00:30:41.950 Judgment will come. We can't wait around and say, well, maybe 295 00:30:42.029 --> 00:30:48.069 not, it's coming. Jesus came into the world world and the darkness did 296 00:30:48.150 --> 00:30:53.900 not overcome the light. The light has overcome the darkness and he will overcome 297 00:30:53.980 --> 00:30:59.220 it. There's no doubt about this. We have this in page after page 298 00:30:59.259 --> 00:31:04.170 of scripture. The good news for us is that he gives us this opportunity 299 00:31:04.250 --> 00:31:11.529 to come as Centipedes, as these evil, terrible, poisonous creatures, out 300 00:31:11.809 --> 00:31:17.730 into the light and to be accepted by him, welcomed into his family. 301 00:31:18.569 --> 00:31:25.960 Has Children. Can you imagine? But that's exactly what the word of God 302 00:31:26.200 --> 00:31:30.440 says. He says while you were still sinners, while you still walked in 303 00:31:30.559 --> 00:31:38.789 the darkness, Jesus came into the world and died a dark death for you. 304 00:31:40.869 --> 00:31:44.029 He took on your sins, he took on darkness, he took on 305 00:31:44.230 --> 00:31:49.500 all evil so that we could be saved. When you hear that word, 306 00:31:51.500 --> 00:31:56.940 that is not an opportunity for you to scurry back into the corners of this 307 00:31:56.140 --> 00:32:02.410 world, to make provision for the flesh. That is the door through which 308 00:32:02.450 --> 00:32:07.849 you walk into the household of God and say I am no longer a worm 309 00:32:08.970 --> 00:32:17.039 but a son because of what you have done. Our response to Romans Thirteen, 310 00:32:17.519 --> 00:32:22.599 the way that we can and ought to live out the Romans Thirteen, 311 00:32:22.480 --> 00:32:30.230 is by giving ourselves over to Jesus and The Majesty of His grace, the 312 00:32:30.509 --> 00:32:36.430 power of it, to confess ourselves as darkness, as dust, as death, 313 00:32:37.190 --> 00:32:43.589 as sons of disobedience who are in need of life. Our response to 314 00:32:43.630 --> 00:32:49.819 Romans Thirteen should be those who turn from darkness to the light by walking through 315 00:32:49.980 --> 00:32:57.220 the door of the cross. And when we do that we can straighten our 316 00:32:57.299 --> 00:33:00.930 backs, we can lift up our heads and look out on the world and 317 00:33:01.410 --> 00:33:08.170 shine with the armor of light, to shine with the grace and the glory 318 00:33:08.329 --> 00:33:16.160 and the power of Gold of God. We can walk in love towards God 319 00:33:16.279 --> 00:33:22.960 and man as we more and more take on the life of Jesus and ourselves. 320 00:33:23.440 --> 00:33:28.509 This is what God promises to do for us when we put our trust 321 00:33:28.670 --> 00:33:32.750 in him, when we give ourselves over to him. So, if you 322 00:33:32.869 --> 00:33:39.269 hear this message, do that. Don't wait for the Day of judgment to 323 00:33:39.390 --> 00:33:42.859 come. Let us pray